Category Archives: Vin

I’m so excited because our wine for the holidays arrived last week! We will be having lots of guests in the next few months and so wine is imperative! Despite all of our recent buying trips, all of the wine in our cave is meant to sit for a few years at least. Hence, all the wine! We ordered two different wines from Cave Saint Brice, in Bordeaux – Medoc Grand Brice 2001 and Medoc La Colonne 2000. Both delicious, full reds and perfect for drinking now. Cave Saint Brice even threw in two magnums! What is not to love?

Last weekend we decided to take an impromptu trip to Bourgogne. Joe is determined to make it to most of the major wine regions before we have to move back to London. So far we have visited the Loire, Champagne, Bordeaux, Côtes du Rhône, and Provence – and now have a lovely selection of wines from those regions. This trip we explored Bourgogne (Burgundy) and Beaujolais, and it was incredible. Ok, well Bourgogne mostly, Beaujolais was less exciting as the wines are very light and far less interesting than those of Bourgogne. The landscape was absolutely stunning. As much as I love autumn in Paris, autumn in Bourgogne offered some serious competition. The rolling hills covered in vines, painting the landscape in warm oranges, yellows, and reds, with a wonderful contrast agains the blue sky and still green grass.

The villages were charming, brimming with vignerons. We drove through some of the most unassuming, seemingly sleepy villages, which happen to produce some of the most prestigious wines in the region (starting around $100 a bottle), and yet you would never know it. While those vineyards weren’t on our list of ones to visit, may others with incredible wine were. While we’ve certainly had some Bourgogne’s before, I didn’t realize until recently just how much I loved them. Recently, a very generous friend brought a bottle of 2007 Hospices de Beaune Pommard Premier Cru over for dinner (I was making boeuf bourguignon, after all). It was delightful, as was dinner. Typical of a good Bourgogne, it was delicate and elegant, but fruity and flavorful and wonderfully interesting. What we didn’t know however, was that unlike other wines, we couldn’t just identify it by where it was made and the year. Founded in 1443 by Nicolas Roulin, Hospices de Beaune was a hospital, largely funded by its annual wine auction. The grapes came from vineyards that were donated over the years to support the hospital. Today it is the most famous wine auction in the region and sets the price for each vintage. Wines are auctioned by the barrel to winemakers, who then take the barrels and make the wine how they would like – making each wine different. So without knowing who made our 2007 Pommard Premier Cru, it becomes nearly impossible to track down.

We made Beaune our base and stayed in a cute little hotel that was more than happy to accommodate Lily. Nothing fancy, but centrally located and close to a wonderful local wine bar. While this region didn’t boast some of the best food we’ve eaten on our trips through France, it does of course offer very delicious escargot and boeuf bourguignon, and some of the finest wine France has to offer. You also can’t forget Creme de Cassis for a lovely Kir with Bourgogne Aligoté as well as Dijon Mustard.

There are so many lovely areas to walk and explore the countryside. We were lucky at had lovely warm weather, with a very slight crisp autumn breeze. Tastings work similar to other regions in that some of the Domaines have hours in which you can pop by and others you need a rendez-vous. The winemakers are more than happy to have you taste their wine and visit their cellars (most of which is at no charge, I might add), offering sometimes even around 10 wines for you to taste. Some of the larger places, like Château de Pommard, will charge for a visit, including a 45-minute tour of the estate and cellars, followed by tasting.

We visited 10 winemakers this trip, and tasted some truly incredible wines. Some of our favorites came from Cave Saint Nicolas, Château de Pommard, Micel Sarrazin et Fils, and Domaine Michel Juillet, all of which had wines in the Guide Hachette des Vins 2013 or 2014 (details below). Maybe one day I will get to writing about each of them. Bon degustation!